Introduction by Peter Landé
Background
Ahrensdorf, located in Luckenwalde, not far from Berlin, was one of a number of Hachschara (literally, training) camps which sprung up in the 1930s in Germany and Austria in an attempt to train young Jewish men and women in agricultural skills so that they could obtain visas from the British Government to enter Palestine. These camps were tolerated by the Nazis up to the late 1930s since they shared the same purpose -i.e. get Jews out of Germany. The camps were generally quite successful, though many of Hachschara "graduates" ended up in places other than Palestine.
This list was developed by a German group, Förderverein für eine Internationale Begegnungsstätte Hachschara-Landwerk Ahrensdorf, and published in this group's 2009 book, Träume und Hoffnungen, Schicksalswege über die Hachschara. The book contains brief biographical sketches of each of the 297 "graduates", including their fate to the extent that this is known. I have corrected and added to this material using information held at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
